11 political parties of NE unanimously decide to oppose Citizenship bill

The decision has been taken during a convention of the political parties led by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) held in Guwahati on Tuesday.

The regional political parties of the North East and JD (U), which forms Bihar government with BJP that met to discuss over the controversial bill.

Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People's Party (NPP) chief Conrad Sangma, Mizoram Chief Minister and Mizo National Front (MNF) chief Zoramthanga, Manipur Deputy Chief Minister Joykumar Singh, former Nagaland Chief Minister  and Naga People’s Front (NPF) leader TR Zeliang, NPP vice president Perestone Tynsong, AGP president Atul Bora, former Assam CM Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, Nagaland’s ruling party Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party ( NDPP)’s president Chingwang Kanyak, UDP president and Meghalaya speaker Dongkupar Roy, Tripura minister and Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT)’s general secretary Mever Kumar Jamatia, Meghalaya minister and Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP)’s leader Samlin Malngianj, HSPDP president KP Pangaing, Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) MLA Adelbert Nongrum, People's Democratic Front (PDF) president Ivanlumiaj Marpaniang, JD (U) North East chairman NSN Lotha were present in the meeting.

After passing in the Lok Sabha, the BJP is planning to pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Rajya Sabha during the forthcoming budget session.

While, the BJP is adamant to pass the bill in Rajya Sabha, it is significant that, 11 political parties, including six allies of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), have unanimously decided to oppose the bill and to continue their fight to protect identity, culture, language of the people of the region.

The convention of the political parties have adopted several resolutions including a delegation of all participating political parties from the North Eastern region along with other parties who have supported the cause would meet and apprise the President of India and Prime Minister in the next few days.

The political parties also decided to continue its opposition to the bill in the unfortunate scenario of the Union government failing to respond to the call of the people and presses ahead with the bill.

The convention has decided to meet again to chalk out the future course of action and the way forward, to form a committee to reach out to different parties across the country to support this cause.

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga said that, this bill is very dangerous and harmful and the bill wouldn’t be accepted at any cost.

On the other hand, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that, this meeting is the outcome of a natural process.

“We felt that, we must come together and oppose the bill in one voice. Let us come unitedly. We didn't come here on political issue. It is a sentimental issue and 10 regional political parties have discussed here about the issue. Our objective is very issue base and we will continue it. We are hoping that, the Union government will consider the sentiment of the people of NE,” Conrad said.

Protests against the bill, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim nationals from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India, have rocked the entire North Eastern region.

AGP has recently snapped ties with the BJP and its three ministers resigned from the BJP-led Assam government to protest against the bill.

AGP president Atul Bora said that, every political party of the region have realised that, the ruling BJP is trying to impose the bill upon the people of the region.

The NDPP-led coalition government of Nagaland had recently rejected the bill following pressure from various tribal groups of the state.

The Meghalaya and Manipur cabinet had also decided to oppose the bill.

The BJP, either on its own or NEDA allies, is in power in all North eastern states and eying to win at least 21 out of 25 parliamentary seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)

Image Credit: Conrad Sangma Twitter page